squirrel momma

9:24.12

I've mentioned before that my daughter--aka Squirrel Girl--is a runner. A pretty serious runner. At the end of her sophomore year in high school she's helped her team win two consecutive cross country state championships, and made the All State cross country and track teams both her freshman and sophomore years. (My contribution to her success, if I can claim one, is my outstanding ability to remove mud and grass stains from virtually any fabric. Really, I am amazing at that.) 

Last year her 4 x 800 relay team (that's a relay team with four girls running 800 meters/one half mile each, for all of you who aren't track geeks) got third at state finals. Since then she's become very close with those three teammates, all of whom are now seniors, and the four of them set their sights on a first place finish this year, the last chance for three of them.

Yesterday was the Big Day--the State Meet--and Squirrel Girl was assigned the final leg of the relay. When her turn came I could hardly bear to watch, because after the first three girls pour out their sweat and blood, then the baton is passed to the last girl, who has to keep that lead her teammates have earned and stay ahead of the pack for the next two laps around the track.

 

It was so important to her to do well, both for herself and her team, but especially for her three good friends.  Girls she would never run with again after that day.

Wondering how it went?

First place.  New school record.  Four very, very happy girls.

 

Things I Have Learned

I'm so sorry I took that unexpected--and unexplained--sabbatical!  I did, however, learn a few things while struggling to juggle my "Squirrel" and my "Momma".

1.  If there's an earthquake they IMMEDIATELY shut down the rides at Disneyland. Seeing people trapped at the top of Thunder Mountain has solidified my desire to never, ever ride a roller coaster again. (Yes, we went to L.A. for spring break. See item #2.)

2. I really wish someone would move the Pacific Ocean to Michigan. Sorry, but Lake Michigan is not the same.

 

3. On average, more 11 year olds limp off the field during a lacrosse game than during a football game. Way harder ball. Way less padding. It definitely helps to squint slightly as the ball whizzes towards your son. 

4. High school girls who run wear at least 14 changes of clothing per day. My laundry mountain would be much smaller if I only allowed my daughter to own 2 outfits. 

5. Some of my current projects would be simpler if I conquered my fear of my Bernina's walking foot.

6. All of my current projects would be simpler if I would just work on them for more than five minutes at a time.

7. I am going through a phase where no project looks complete unless I add fangs to it. Hmmm. Must mean something.

Sorry about the lack of pictures. I actually finished a lot of things--a whole slew of monster purses to send to the Etsy Plush Team booth at Maker Faire in San Francisco and a flock of albino bats that flew off to Vancouver, among other things--but I was so frazzled meeting deadlines I forget to snap pics. Fortunately I still have my mysterious entomological experiment, and I'll try to get him to pose for a shot as soon as it stops raining around here.

Thanks for all the kind words--I missed you, too!

Snow Day

Snow day.  No school.  And I'm not above bribery to preserve my sanity.

 

 

The Greatest Day of the Year

Our guest blogger today is Nut Boy, football fanatic extraordinaire.

With Super Bowl Sunday finally here rituals are being completed--eating delicious, loaded clili dogs and watching the 14 million hours of Super Bowl coverage before the game. The New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts are traveling down to Miami to cap off the NFL season. 

I think that the Saints should win 'cause of the joy and partying it would bring to New Orleans as a city. I mean, who's heard of Indianapolis as the world's biggest partying city?  

 

Who Dat Gonna Beat Dem Saints?

Nobody!

Silence. Or at least a little less noise.

For those of you worried about my hearing--and my sanity--I am happy to announce that we are now the proud owners of a set of drum mutes.

 

Basically they're just a set of rubber circles that lay on top of the drum head. But they've cut the noise waaaaay down--that, and the fact the drum set is now living in the basement.

We just got back from a short trip to Chicago.  So what is this?

 

This is yuuummmm! Xoco, in downtown Chicago, is Rick Bayless's (of Frontera Grill fame) new restaurant.  I love Rick--isn't he a cutie?

 

And I love Rick's food. The review I saw in the Chicago Reader referred to him as "The Chef Who Can Do No Wrong", and I'd have to agree with that. The menu at Xoco is very casual compared to Frontera, its big sister next door, with the menu made up of sandwiches and soups. But the most amazing sandwiches and soup you've ever had--the four of us each got something different, and it was all incredible, with plates being swapped back and forth and forks attacking other people's meals like crazy. And if the food wasn't enough to wow us, there were the hot chocolates.

  

Made from scratch--and from scratch, I mean they're grinding those cacao beans on site and blending in their own Aztec spices. We got two, with churros, for dessert, but I was severely disappointed I was too stuffed to order a chocolate latté for the road. Definitely going back for breakfast next time we're in Chicago and fueling up for the day on chocolate and pastries.

I wonder if they would consider moving Chicago a little closer to my house?

Whose Idea Was This?

In a moment of weakness I may have allowed Nut Boy to ask Santa for a full size drum set for Christmas.

 

Of course Santa brought it. And set it up (temporarily!!!) right around the corner from my studio.

Loud.  Really loud.  Eardrum rattling loud.

You know, if you rearrange the letters in Santa it spells--oh, never mind.

That's How I Know It's Monday

So I stripped the sheets off Nut Boy's bed, schlepped them down two flights of stairs, and was proceeding to stuff them into the washing machine when a soccer ball fell out and rolled across the basement floor.

?!?

Definitely Monday.

Dietary Question

FYI:  more weedlings, seedlings and bats going up in the shop over the next week...

And now, a dietary question that was just posed to me by Nut Boy. If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?!!  Ha!

Guts

Ever wonder what the inside of a VCR looks like?

Nut Boy did.  And now he has LOTS of extra parts for, uh, buildin' stuff.

Driving Like a Cat

Have I mentioned that Squirrel Girl is taking driver's education?  In my state they start early--14!!!--but after driver's ed she'll be required to practice for 50 or 60 hours with a parent in the front seat before she's allowed to get a "real" license at age 16.  

So today Squirrel Girl is finishing up three weeks of classes at Jungle Survival Driver's Training. They emphasize defensive driving, with a jungle theme. A really big, over the top jungle theme.

Oh, but wait, it gets better!

Jungle themed cars! Now, at first I was rolling my eyes at cars painted to look like lions and tigers (that sedate rain forest one above is an older pic I pulled from their website). But then I realized how much other drivers pay attention to those jungle cars, which is a good thing to ponder when I'm sitting at home worrying about my 14 year old out with her instructor, driving on the highway for the first time. Hopefully she's learned to drive like a cat, alertly scanning for predators and ready to react with lightening fast feline reflexes...okay, okay, enough with that metaphor.

...

One last thing.  If you tried to download the free pincushion pattern pdf yesterday, you may have noticed a glitch.  All better!